administrator, Author at Gagrule.net

General of Azerbaijani Armed Forces: Turkey used to help and continues helping Baku, but will not fight in Karabakh

May 5, 2013 By administrator

“I just want to remind you that Turkey was on the side of the Azerbaijan Republic from the very beginning of the conflict. In state-to-state relationship we had and still have a wide range of military-technical cooperation and comprehensive material and technical support,” told Vesti.az major general of Azerbaijan Alexander Vasyak commenting on the question of Turkey’s role in the region.

Major-General reminded that, in the media and the Azerbaijani expert community rumors were being discussed about the possibility of direct participation of Turkish army in the conflict, which will be conducted at the level of Special Forces. Unification of land troops and air strikers is also possible.

“I have already spoken about this and there is no sense to repeat it as it is absolutely clear that no one will is going to fight for us. But Turkey has helped Azerbaijan and will help in educating military personnel, training of the staff and all the control components of troops and weapons, aircraft logistics, study and development of NATO standards, development of documents and construction plans for military and national security,” Vasyak says.

According to military experts, in political point of view, the possibilities of Ankara are now shackled by the role of Turkey in Syrian conflict and by unpredictability of its development. In this regard, Vasyak expressed doubts that Turkey will pursue an active policy in the South Caucasus, nevertheless, he recalled the words of the American Council expert on foreign policy Wayne Merry, “Turkey undertook the patronage of Azerbaijan.”

“Turkey has always been a major regional player in our region, but I would not dare to predict and give her a leading role in Karabakh conflict settlement process,” A. Vasyak noted.

Source: Panorama.am

Opinion: Kurdish issue resolution may help tackle Armenian question

May 5, 2013 By administrator

May 4, 2013 – 16:12 AMT

Hopes that Turkey could ever solve its almost intractable Kurdish issue have never been as high as they were in the first quarter of 2013. If this peace process can continue with all its ups and downs but without rupture, it could that suggest that another perennial issue as old as the Kurdish issue, the Armenian question, can also be tackled, Turkish journalist Cengiz Çandar says in “No Incentive for Turkey, Armenia To Normalize Relations” article published by the Assyrian International News Agency.

“Of course, there is a fundamental difference. The Kurdish issue directly concerns 15 million people living in Turkey as Turkish citizens and more than 30 million other Kurds living in the region and majority populations of tens of millions living in those countries. The Armenian question is about the perishing of a national community on the land they have been living for time immemorial. Today, the question is more about its deep psychological scars rather than its physical aspects,” he says.

“For the Armenians, a large part of historical Armenia, what they call Western Armenia, covers a substantial portion of today’s eastern Turkey. It is not unusual for countries and lands to change names but for the Armenians and Turkey, the issue is more than losing land but the almost total annihilation of a nation on the land where they used to live,” he says.

“In the meanwhile, we have to remember that the assassination in 2007 of Turkey’s most influential and best known democratic figure, Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, constituted a breaking point in Turkey’s Armenian issue that heralded the emergence on the political stage of the “Turkish Armenian” identity, even though they are but a 60,000-strong minority living only in Istanbul, down from 1.5 million in 1915,” Çandar continues.

“Since that time, an increasing number of Turks and Kurds of Turkey, in solidarity with Armenians, began to discuss the Armenian issue and to observe April 24 as Genocide Remembrance Day, first in the center of Istanbul and then, this year, in many provincial capitals, led by Diyarbakir.

Turkey faces a complex structure of Armenia-Diaspora-Turkey’s Armenians. For the late Hrant Dink, normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia was a life mission. A year and half after his assassination we came very close to his ideals,” Çandar says.

“2015 will be the 100th anniversary of the genocide, and Armenian mobilization in the international arena in 2015 will be a potential irritant for Turkey. But, then, Turkey’s own domestic developments and bringing in the Diaspora to share April 24 observances, also means that genocide will no longer be something Turkey owes to Armenia. In other words, the need for closure of the Genocide File is no longer an incentive or sine qua non for normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations. No Turkey-Armenian normalization is detected in the horizon. And there won’t be unless there are mutually enticing and strong incentives,” he concludes.

Odette Bazil: Penal Code 301 and Turkish scholars

May 4, 2013 By administrator

Journalists are the conscience of the people. By removing and killing them, Turkey is killing and removing its own conscience.

Again, another Turkish journalist is to be thrown in jail for – according to Turkish Penal Code 301 (insulting the Turkish Nation, the Turkish Republic, its government or governmental institutions), one of the leading London-based Armenian activists, Odette Bazil says.

April 18, 2013 She continues to say:

“The name of that Turkish journalist is Temel Demirer.

At his first trial, he had been charged for the crime cited in Penal Code 301 and had been sentenced to two years in prison. Then he was told that the sentence could be withheld if during the coming 3 years he would refrain from committing the same crime.

Immediately after the trial, just in front of the Court buildings Temel Demirer said: “If, for the coming 3 years, I don’t say there was an Armenian genocide in Turkey, I will be acquitted. Right now, five minutes after the trial, without waiting for another 3 years I say: the Turkish State is the murderer of Hrant Dink. Hrant Dink was not killed because he was Armenian. Hrant Dink was killed by the Turkish State for saying that there had been an Armenian genocide in Turkey. If the Court security forces or the MINISTRY OF INJUSTICE that have postponed my trial do not open another trial, they will be committing a crime”

“I am not inciting anyone to commit a crime. What I am saying is that ideas can NOT and should NOT be shackled. I have learned from ISMAIL BESICKCI, FIKRET BASKAYA and BASKIN ORAN (all Turkish Academics imprisoned or tried for their work ) that FREEDOM OF THOUGHT MUST STAND STRONG. There has been an Armenian genocide in this country. The Turkish State DID kill Hrant Dink. These are my thoughts. So, if you want , you try me again.

On 12th April 2012, I wrote an article, wishing that there would be one and half million good Turks with a conscience who would, EACH ONE, do one good deed for ONE of the one and half million innocent victims of the Armenian genocide.

I never believed, even in my wildest dreams, that my wish would come true so quickly and from such important quarters for there is a huge difference between what is said publicly by an ordinary man or woman in the street and what is researched, written , advocated and published by a journalist. Every journalist’s prerogative and duty is to report the truth, to report what has happened, to make the reader aware of that truth and make that reader motivated by what has happened.

Journalists are the conscience of the people. By removing and killing them, Turkey is killing and removing its own conscience.

Today journalists in Turkey are being prosecuted, tortured – even killed – for affirming that the Ottoman government of 1915 DID commit the genocide of one and half million innocent Armenians. Many journalists have died because of the tortures received, many publishing houses and offices have been set to fire and dozens of Turkish Scholars have left their families, their friends and their country in fear of reprisal and in fear of their lives. Now, protected in foreign lands, they are writing in foreign papers and are even publishing in foreign languages but, committed to their ideals of freedom and justice, they advocate with more effectiveness for the condemnation (by Turkey and the world at large) of the Armenian genocide, knowing that at last they can proclaim the truth without being hunted down, jailed and tortured.

By removing its journalists and making them disappear in the secret holes of its jails, by silencing them hoping that they will be so scared that they will never speak again of the Armenian genocide, Turkey is, like an ostrich, hiding its head in the sand and is only delaying what will one day be acclaimed and accepted in Turkey, not only by its journalists, but by its entire population. Soon there will be one and half million good Turks with a conscience who will stand up, will confess to the committed genocide, doing ONE good deed for each one of the one and half million innocent victims of the Armenian genocide

Today, in Turkey students are questioning their teachers about the empty pages of their History books, where the period of Turkish history between 1915 and 1923 is not mentioned, nor printed, nor described or discussed. The Turkish student, wanting to know, will ask its family members. Sometimes there might be an elderly relative who will describe the atrocities committed. If that student has a conscience, then it will carry its research and will find the truth. It is the moral duty for that student to tell its Turkish compatriots and the world at large of what has happened in 1915 .It is the moral duty of that Turkish student to become a good Turk and do one good deed for one innocent victim of the genocide it has found out to have happened in its country.

Today in Turkey, the young educated Turk is asking why are they so many churches in Turkey whereas Turkey is a Muslim State, why are these churches empty? When and who did worship in them and Where are these people? Each Turk, be it young or old, male or female, educated or not, MUST ask where are these people? What happened to them? And WHY did it happen?

Today the Turkish dignitaries visit various countries who, having interests to protect in Turkey would not shy from any injustice, any lie or deceit to protect these interest, and lobby these countries to join the Turkish State in its denial of events which are questioned, publicised , researched and exposed by the Turkish population and specially by its young intellectuals and its journalists .

Turkey must understand and accept that the process of acknowledgement and condemnation of the Armenian genocide has already begun in Turkey. It will never be stopped.

Is the Turkish government to imprison all its journalists, all its historians, all its intellectuals, all its good people with a conscience?

Are new jails to be built in Turkey, equal to the same number of mass graves which were dug in 1915 to bury those million and half innocent victims, and are these jails to be used to bury the truth?

Now, in 2013, although the dead Armenians will never be able to leave their graves to testify, but the Turkish journalists who serve their two or three years sentences in Turkish jails WILL get out one day and WILL testify.

Most revolutions are instigated by young idealist intellectuals and are exposed to the public by journalists. So far, the Turkish government has partly succeeded in keeping its young intellectuals in the dark and the crimes committed by their ancestors a secret, but , day by day, with an increasing number , with accrued effectiveness and sharpened awareness of every citizen’s right, Turkish Scholars , historians and journalists are speaking out and are advocating for the truth about the Armenian genocide .

Similar to the Armenian women who have never been able to bring themselves to talk about the rapes and the sexual outrages committed against them by the Turks during the Armenian genocide because of the SHAME they felt, maybe the Turkish government too cannot bring itself to talk about the crimes committed by its ancestors because of the SHAME it feels.

Yes any human being, any government, any state would feel – very rightly – a deep and dark SHAME to find itself the heir to such morbid legacy, a legacy of injustice, of crime, of theft, of torture, of rape and of murder.

The SHAME felt towards this legacy should generate apologies and remorse NOT denial and persecution of the ones who expose that legacy and that truth.

Ten years ago, my grand-son Connor Bazil whose mother is American, wrote in his homework ; “Turkey must say yes its great-grand fathers had killed the Armenians because , like between friends, once a bad thing has been done, if the guilty party says Sorry , then friendship can start again, then that bad action can be forgiven and once again people who are neighbours can live next to each other without hating each other , so two countries will not be enemies anymore”.

Albanian leaders fan flames of nationalism, unnerving West

May 4, 2013 By administrator

if you read what Turkish foreign ministers is saying and what Albanian leaders are saying, both saying we don’t recognize the borders set 100 years ago. they want Ottoman empire border so now NATO created two Turkish Republic (Kosovo and Bosnia) will NATO now help create new Ottoman empire? time will tel..

By Benet Koleka

TIRANA | Tue Apr 16, 2013 5:46pm EDT

(Reuters) – The walls of Kreshnik Spahiu’s office in the Albanian capital bear the names of towns far beyond the borders of this Adriatic state, in modern-day Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Albanians regard the settlements as their own, dating from when the Balkans marked the western reaches of the sprawling Ottoman Empire. Some are still home to Albanians, restive minorities in the 100 years since the borders of today’s Albania were set by the Great Powers in London.

A century on, Spahiu says they should be united, and the nationalist rallying call of his Red and Black Alliance political party is resonating among impoverished Albanians ahead of a parliamentary election in the NATO member state in June.

The trend mirrors the rise of nationalists in other parts of southern Europe hardest hit by an economic slump, soaring unemployment and falling living standards.

Some polls put Spahiu’s party third in the June 23 election, and he could emerge as a kingmaker, swaying policy in any future government.

“If Albanians want to live tomorrow with the Greeks, Serbs, Italians, Spaniards and the Portuguese (in the European Union), what’s stopping them from removing the borders between themselves?” Spahiu, a former district court judge, said in an interview with Reuters.

Few observers see any imminent threat of yet more border changes in the Balkans, which splintered with the collapse of federal Yugoslavia in the 1990s, spawning wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, and Albanian insurgencies in southern Serbia and Macedonia.

But diplomats say the fiery rhetoric is far from helpful as the EU tries to coax Serbia and its former Kosovo province – where Albanians are the majority – towards a delicate rapprochement and to cement a fragile calm in Macedonia, which flirted with civil war in 2001.

Spahiu’s strain of hardline nationalism was once confined to the margins, but a sense of national awakening has sharpened with the 100th anniversary of Albanian independence last year and a 2008 declaration of independence by Kosovo.

“ALBANIAN LANDS”

Spahiu’s success has dragged mainstream leaders to the right, including Prime Minister Sali Berisha, as the close-run election draws near.

Marking the 100th anniversary of independence, Berisha referred to towns in Macedonia, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro as “Albanian lands”.

In January, he hailed fallen Albanian guerrillas in Serbia as “heroes of the Albanian nation.”

Then in February, in a Munich speech railing against “Albanophobia”, Berisha rejected the idea that Albanians could be regarded as five different nations because they live in five different Balkan states.

“Albanians cannot accept this,” he said. “The national unity of the Albanians will be the alternative to this.”

Ethnic Albanians laid down arms in Macedonia and southern Serbia’s Presevo Valley in 2001 on the promise of better lives inside NATO and the EU. But progress has been painstakingly slow, and they remain far from satisfied with their lot.

Albania’s NATO allies and the European Union that it wants to join are making their displeasure known, in unusually blunt terms.

“Is nationalism in a form we hear it from Tirana really based on Euro-Atlantic values?” Stefan Fule, the EU commissioner tasked with steering the countries of the Western Balkans towards membership of the bloc, tweeted last month.

His remark followed an unusually blunt intervention by the United States, a close ally of Albania and Kosovo, in a State Department memo to the Albanian Foreign Ministry in February that was leaked to media.

It told Tirana to “stay out of the affairs of Serbia” and warned that nationalist rhetoric could “erode peace and stability”.

Berisha has denied that Albanian nationalism poses any threat.

Some analysts put it down to pure electioneering, with the June vote expected to be a close-run affair and Berisha and his rivals trying to harness the discontent of Albanians struggling with the fallout from Europe’s debt crisis.

Albania was a closed Stalinist dictatorship from World War Two until 1990, but enjoyed enviable rates of economic growth from the turn of the century until the crisis broke in Europe’s single currency bloc, cutting into remittances from some 1 million Albanian migrants in Italy and Greece.

The Albanian economy grew a relatively meager 1.6 percent in 2012, its lowest level in 16 years.

KING-MAKER?

“In a society undergoing a grave economic crisis, morally degraded and culturally miserable, nationalism is a food that can be easily digested, a mental catastrophe that turns the mass into an idolatrous crowd,” said historian Artan Puto.

“That’s my biggest fear,” he said.

“It will be interesting to see what influence this nationalism will have after the elections; will they press their agendas once they enter parliament, or turn to other pursuits?”

Albania’s bid to join the EU has faltered due to the country’s deep polarization between its two traditional parties, Berisha’s Democrats and the opposition Socialists.

Their inability to get along has slowed reforms, and occasionally boiled over into violence.

If the polls are correct and Spahiu’s party – which takes its name from the colors of the Albanian national flag – comes third, he could have the casting vote in deciding who rules. That would put the next government in an awkward spot given the Red and Black Alliance’s demand for a referendum on uniting Albania and Kosovo.

Spahiu’s slogans and straight-talking has struck a chord with Albanians frustrated with the two biggest parties that have dominated government since the collapse of communism, with mixed results.

“If he’s in government, I’m sure no police officer would take a bribe and spend it on beer,” said 20-year-old Xhevit Sula, at a rally addressed by Spahiu in the southeastern town of Korce.

Despite a diploma as a construction technician, Sula said he had struggled to find work over the past couple of years, with the construction sector in decline.

Critics, however, says Spahiu’s nationalism shares the ugly, xenophobic agenda of other right-wing groups such as the anti-immigration Golden Dawn in Greece, which has witnessed a surge in support from Greeks angry at years of brutal austerity and recession.

The U.S. embassy in Tirana was particularly alarmed by a November incident involving members of Spahiu’s party allegedly intimidating ethnic Macedonians to quit their village in Albania. A community leader confirmed the incident to Reuters.

The EU mantra is that borders between the countries of the Western Balkans will become irrelevant once they all join the bloc.

But at least another decade will pass before that happens, and even then there are deep doubts in the Balkans as to whether the troubled bloc will still want them after it takes in its 28th member, Croatia, on July 1.

“This is just the beginning,” said Gentian Rrugia, a member of the Red and Black soccer fan group, which shares Spahiu’s ideology. “Nothing is impossible,” he said. “We already live as if in an ‘ethnic Albania’, we don’t recognize the borders set 100 years ago.”

(Editing by Matt Robinson and Mike Collett-White)

Greece to push claim for German war reparations: foreign minister

May 4, 2013 By administrator

(Reuters) – Greece is planning to pursue a long-dormant claim for reparations from Germany over World War Two, a further strain on relations with Berlin, which foots most of the bill for its 240-billion euro rescue.

The Finance Ministry has compiled a report that takes stock of all relating available documents spanning more than six decades, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos told parliament on Wednesday.

It will be submitted to Greece’s legal advisers and then Athens will decide how to officially press its claim, he said.

Avramopoulos did not say how much would be sought.

“We will exhaust every means available to arrive to a result,” he told lawmakers. “One can’t compare the times, but also not erase the memories.”

Germany, whose forces occupied Greece in World War Two, says it has already paid all reparations owed.

The issue has resurfaced since last year as Greece suffers under austerity measures imposed on it by its creditors, mainly Germany, as a condition for its international EU/IMF bailout.

Avramopoulos said it was wrong to link the issue to the debt crisis.

“This has been an open issue for 60 years, it is too large an issue to fit into the confines of the fiscal crisis,” he said.

Greece’s fragile coalition government has so far earned praise from Chancellor Angela Merkel for starting to fix Greece’s finances.

But conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was pushed to raise the reparation issue by the main opposition, anti-bailout Syriza party.

(Reporting by Harry Papachristou; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

R-Mean and his supporters raise Genocide awareness through “Our Wounds” movement – INTERVIEW

May 4, 2013 By administrator

May 04, 2013 | 00:20

By Anna Ghazaryan

Armenian media outlets have recently published a photo of The Game wearing a T-shirt with “Our Wounds Are Still Open-1915” – the name of a movement launched ahead of the 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Meanwhile, “Open Wounds” song by R-Mean was quickly spread in the Armenian social networks. It was revealed that the movement was organized by a group of American Armenian young people who wanted to pay tribute to the Armenian Genocide victims and raise Genocide awareness all over the globe. Those who were behind the idea – rapper R-Mean and active Armenian community member from Boston Zareh Zurabyan told about the project in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Who is the author of this movement? How did the idea come along to write “Our Wounds Are Still Open-1915”? Who designed it and whose idea was it to have a design like that?

R-Mean: My manager Alex Kodo and I had the idea of making a new video for this song because we knew it was a jewel. And along with it we wanted to do t-shirts…. I had written the song and called it “Open Wounds” so I felt like the shirt had to make the same statement as the song. “Our Wounds Are Still Open” was perfect. It was Alex’s idea to add the “1915”. Then we contacted our graphic designer, the owner of “Extra Good” clothing line, Narek Churukyan who we sat down and did the actual design with.

How did you start to spread the shirts? What makes people of other nationalities buy the shirt?

Zareh: The social medias were very helpful in spreading the new video, and the shirt sales. R-Mean having a huge following throughout the world specifically in the West Coast of USA, and me having a large connection here in the East Coast specifically Massachusetts, Boston and Rhode Island, Providence and NY, Brooklyn, I was able to spread the shirts around here. We kind of combined our large network of friends and jointly promoted the video and the shirts. Everybody was happy to be part of the movement, and to help the cause. Having all my friends and family being back home in Armenia, some studying abroad in Germany, Moscow, France, R-Mean having family and fans back in Amsterdam and other parts of the world, it was easy to spread the word and have all the communities in these cities to buy the shirts – especially when they knew the proceeds will go to ArmeniaFund.

Just from top of my head, shirts were bought from all over USA, Canada, UK, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Dubai, Budapest, Lebanon, Syria, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and of course Armenia.

What got other races to buy the shirt has to do with couple of things. One of the reasons is the design of the shirt. Just from a style point of view, the design and the colors that are used are modern and it speaks to the youth. People want to wear it to look good. Another reason is the saying, it is different, and it doesn’t say Armenian Genocide on it as many other shirts say, which in turn isolates us from others. In this case the shirt is somewhat universal. It can be related to many injustices in the world that are not recognized. The 1915 pinpoints the Armenian Genocide, but the Wounds can be related to many other injustices. As Martin Luther King Jr said, “Injustice anywhere, is threat to justice everywhere.”

How did The Game decide to wear the shirt?

Zareh: The Game and R-Mean are both from California, and they did a song together called “Lost Angels” before, so when the “Open Wounds” movement started, the mutual respect between them resulted in The Game to pay his respect to the victims of the Genocide, and to the large Armenian community in California. It was very nice of him and it is greatly appreciated.

What other famous people were wearing the shirts, except for The Game? How did it happen that Kim Kardashian’s fan page posted the video?

R-Mean: It was important for us to show how many people in position, and people outside of the Armenian community were supporting this “Open Wounds” movement… We started contacting our connects in the music industry and really just anyone with a following that we knew people look up to and asked them if they wanted to be a part of this and support. We had legendary radio DJ’s Julio G, Romeo of Tha Goodfellas, Sway from MTV and Tech on the world famous Wake Up Show (on Eminem’s radio station Shade45)… We had Armenians like boxer Vanes Martirosyan, UFC fighter Manny Gamburyan, Dj Vick One, Capital Z, Maria Cozette, Hrach Titizian, Super Sako, and so many more… We had Singer/Actress Farrah Franklin (formerly from Destiny’s child), and then of course The Game. These are all people we knew and they respected the movement and what we were trying to do so they supported. They posted pictures and the video online for all of their huge followings to see. We also got in touch with Congressman Adam Schiff who has always supported the Armenian cause in Congress. Our fans started reaching out to The Kardashians on twitter, IG, and FB telling them about the “Open wounds” song and the movement… Eventually they posted it on Kim’s official fan page. That was real cool.

“Open Wounds” song was loved by many people and it was widely spread in the Armenian social media very quickly. Please tell a little bit how it was written and who did the video?

R-Mean: Several years ago I had the idea of doing this song. A genocide song named “Open Wounds”. I knew which producer I wanted to do it and I knew which singer I wanted on it. I also knew I wanted it to have duduk samples so I collected a lot of duduk CDs and took them to my producer Blind. He made the beat… And then I took the beat to Soseh. As soon as I played it she came up with the idea to use “Kilikia” I hadn’t thought of doing the chorus in Armenian but when she said it I felt it was genius. Then I just put my heart into the verses and that was it. It truly came together magically.

My manager Alex Kodo, who is also my director, did the video. He also did the video for my last song “Lost Angels” with The Game. But “Open Wounds” was all him. From the ideas, the footages, the concepts, the editing, everything… He really killed it.

What other ideas do you have to raise awareness about the Armenian Genocide?

R-Mean: As a Hip Hop artist, this is what I do. I put the message in my music and try to reach as many youth as possible and as many non-Armenians as possible. The song and the video will continue the spread… But more importantly we will be spreading the shirts all year long. This is not a once a year in April thing. We will keep spreading these because a good looking t-shirt is a great way of making a statement and spreading the message. Everyone keeps asking what that t-shirt means.

Zareh: Like R-Mean said, Hip-Hop is the voice of the youth, and his song has aided me enormously in promoting the shirts and the awareness here in Boston. Local artists here like G-Eyez, Tha Jist, Chris aka Chief, Dark Blue and many more who have never heard of the Armenian Genocide or have, but didn’t know how to pay their respect to the cause or bring awareness, reposted the video on their social networks. It was very nice of them to do so and I thank them for it. I went to the AYF Boston chapter and presented them with the shirts, went to High Schools, many of my friends in different business areas wore the shirts, and we only got positive feedback.

Boston Armenian community had been very passive these last couple of years. The protests have had minimal participation from the youth. A lot of the kids didn’t seem to have that passion that the elder generations used to have. So when the Boston community saw an artist like R-Mean being so passionate in his song for everyone to see, and spreading awareness on such a limelight along with these famous artists – it injected this fresh breeze of pride in the youth.

It got to a point where I would see random people in the most unexpected places wearing the shirts. It is beautiful. Best part is that people always ask what the shirt says, so we are inclined to inform them of our history.

April 24th, 2013 is over, I am still getting orders almost every day, Armenian and non-Armenian. It is a beautiful thing and I am very proud of the Boston Armenian Community for their support, passion, and enthusiasm. Boston community is passionate once again, and excited to do next year’s protest in the newly founded Armenian Heritage Park in downtown for the Armenian Genocide Victims. We worked 5 years to finally get our own park here in Massachusetts, and we finally got it. It is time that we use that park with pride.

“Armenpress” introduces 16th bestseller books list

May 3, 2013 By administrator

10:38, 3 May, 2013

YEREVAN, MAY 3, ARMENPRESS. The book of poems by Armenian poetess Anahit Taryan titled “The Sunny Starfall” tops the bestseller books list introduced by “Armenpress” News Agency. Popular “Masha and the Bear” tale occupies the second position of the rating. The Armenian version of the prominent Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli’s “Stone Dreams” published by “Graber” publishing house occupies the third place in the bestseller books list. Artak Vardanyan translated the novel into Armenian. Aram Ananyan authored the preface of the book and the publication was edited by Seyranuhi Geghamyan. Aylisli’s book is followed by Hovhannes Tumanyan’s tales. “Memories of My Melancholy Whores” by Columbian author Gabriel García Márquez occupies the fifth position of the list. Bakur Karapetyan’s “The Sumgait Diary” occupies the sixth position. This book is based upon actual events.

“Stone Dreams” by Akram Aylisli, but published by “Nork” publishing house occupies the seventh position of the bestseller books list introduced by “Armenpress”. Ashot Aghababyan’s “Lonely” novel takes the eighth place. ”The Book of Lamentations” by outstanding Armenian author St. Gregory of Narek occupies the ninth position this time. This masterpiece by St. Gregory of Narek has always been included in our bestseller books list. And the Armenian version of Akram Aylisli’s “Stone Dreams” published by “Edit-Print” publishing house has appeared in the final position of the Bestseller Books List introduced by “Armenpress” News Agency.

AYF Calls on USC to Retract Invitation of Turkish Vice Consul Tolga Arslan

May 3, 2013 By administrator

LOS ANGELES—The Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) has raised concern regarding the University of Southern California (USC) Center for Public Diplomacy’s decision to invite Tolga Arslan, Turkish Vice-Consul, to speak at the Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars (APDS) Conference on Friday, May 3.

The conference is held annually and has four panels this year focusing on Public Diplomacy’s Domestic Dimensions, Public Diplomacy in Conflict Zones, and Diasporas and Consular Diplomacy. Togla Arslan has been invited to speak on the subject of Diasporas and Consular Diplomacy in order to share his public diplomacy strategies and the most effective ways of engaging with their diasporas. Arslan is not only a representative of a government that actively denies the Armenian Genocide, but he also actively works with organizations in the Diaspora that advocate for the denial of genocide. This concern should not only be a concern to the Armenian community and to human rights advocates, but to the USC faculty and students as well. Inviting a representative of a government that does not engage in just practices in diplomacy reflects negatively upon the department and its credibility.

It is important that those attending this conference are educated and aware of the ongoing human rights violations by the Turkish government. USC should not allow representatives of foreign governments that have one of the worst human rights violation records to influence our education in the United States. It is important that we be critical and that we speak out when we see individuals like Arslan, through his government, attempting to influence our educational system.

The Armenian Youth Federation calls on the USC Center for Public Diplomacy to retract its invitation to Tolga Arslan, and to be truly critical of the representatives that they invite for future panels.

On November 1, Arslan was invited to be the keynote speaker at the UCLA Bruin Model UN conference, where he was supposed to deliver the introductory speech to the conference participants. Arslan canceled his appearance at the last minute due to the combined efforts of the Armenian Youth Federation Western Region (AYF-WR), Armenian National Committee of America Western Region (ANCA-WR), and the UCLA Armenian Student Association (ASA). The BruinMUN organizers thanked the Armenian community for their steadfast commitment to the principles of truth, justice, and human rights.

Founded in 1933, the Armenian Youth Federation is the largest and most influential Armenian American youth organization in the United States, working to advance the social, political, educational and cultural awareness of Armenian-American youth.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev named “press predator”

May 3, 2013 By administrator

May 3, 2013 – 16:32 AMT

Contact.az reported: On World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders released an updated list of 39 Predators of Freedom of Information – presidents, politicians, religious leaders, militias and criminal organizations that censor, imprison, kidnap, torture and kill journalists and other news providers.

“These predators of freedom of information are responsible for the worst abuses against the news media and journalists,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “They are becoming more and more effective. In 2012, the level of violence against news providers was unprecedented and a record number of journalists were killed,” he said.

This year, as in 2012, 2 of the 39 “predators”, are representatives of Azerbaijan – President Ilham Aliyev and his faithful companion in Nakhichevan, Vasif Talybov, Contact.az reported

Paper on Armenian, Greek, Jewish communities to be released in Istanbul

May 3, 2013 By administrator

May 2, 2013 – 16:55 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Luys bimonthly paper will be released in Istanbul to cover events in the country’s Armenian, Jewish, Greek and Assyrian communities, Taraf said.

As the editor-in-chief of the paper Sahnur Kazanci noted, “we, Armenians, have long been living next to Greeks and Assyrians, sharing happy events of our lives. The paper is merely a chance to expand the coverage of those events.”

Luys will be released in 28 pages, one of them fully in Armenian.